The Downward Spiral of Professional Wrestling

I have been a avid, lifelong fan of professional wrestling. As i grow older now, my early 20s, i rarely watch it, but every now and then i check it out on TV just to see who is wrestling, and what the different storylines are.I started watching wrestling when i was about 5, when Ted DiBiase and Money Inc. ruled the WWF (Now WWE) and Randy “Macho Man” Savage dominated the WCW.

If you have watched TV or been on the internet in the past week, you have obviously heard of the mysterious death involving WWE superstar Chris Benoit and his wife and son. This came a suprise to me, because Benoit was always one of the most competitive guys in the ring, and outside the ring he was always known as a good guy.

What is really interesting is that this past monday, The WWE was planning on having its Monday Night Raw program be a Vince McMahon memorial service. this was because, in a current story line, Vince McMahon, the CEo of the WWE was blown up in a limosuine outside the arena (This was a staged event). So instead of having Raw be a fake memorial show, they had to switch it, and made it a memorial service for a wrestler who actually died. I think the WWE should reconside ever faking someones death ever again, and to be honest, the story lines have all gone downhill in the past two years.

On the Benoit memorial show,o ther wrestlers came down and spoke about Chris Benoit and how good of a guy he was. It it moments like these when wrestlers lose their in ring character, and speak as a normal human being, something I think is a very interesting part of the Business.

Benoit’s death is not the first one of its kind in the WWE. In fact, since 1995, 6 wrestlers have died from substance abuse such as drugs, alcohol, or steroids. and another two, including Benoit have commited suicide. Then there was also the extremely saddening death of Owen Hart. Hart died during a live taping of a WWE pay per view in 1999. His character, the Blue Blazer, was suppose to propel down from the rafters into the ring, but his cable snapped, dropping him more than 100ft into the ring, where he smashed into the turnbuckle, ending his life. this was one of the most horrifying deaths entertainment has ever seen.

As for the other wrestlers who ahve since passed, most of them have been addicted to drugs or alcohol. The last wrestler before Benoit to pass away was his long time friend Eddie Gurerro, who died while he was currently the WWE heavyweight champion. He died on the road, of a heart attack from a long time substance abuse in 2005.

in 2003, two famous wrestlers died from Painkillers and Cocaine abuse. “Mr Perfect” Curt hennig, died in early 2003 because his heart exploded due to an overdose of cocaine. Hennig was not an active wrestler at the time, but was now working as a developement personalle for the WWE.Mrs. Elizabeth, a long time WWE and WCW valet/manager was found dead in her Georgia home, from an overdose on pain pills and alcohol. Lex Luger another extremly famous and popular wrestler was living with her at the time, and was arrested for possesion of these illegal painkillers.

The Benoit death is very confusing because he also took the life of his wife and son, an act that doesnt seem fitting for Benoit at all. Many specualte that he suffered from “roid rage”, and thats why he killed his son and spouse, but toxicology reports have not come back yet.

Regardless of this, professional wrestling has been spiraling down hill in the past 5 years. Since the departure of superstars “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and “The Rock” to Hollywood, the WWE has been struggling to keep its TV ratings as high as they were in the late 90s, when their monday night show, Raw, would dominated neilson ratings every week, many times beating out special events such as award shows and special features.

This death really caught peoples attention of past wrestlers who had died because of drug abuse, and now the WWE really has to try hard to clean its image without losing its fan base.Good Luck Vince McMahon, you’ve sullied wrestlings good name, now fix it.